I'm Not Giving Up on You
by Rachel07
Summary: What if Tadashi never showed up on his bike to save Hiro at the beginning of the movie? What if Hiro wasn't bot fighting for fun? How far will he push himself to do what he thinks is right? *Tadashi does not die.


What if Tadashi never showed up on his bike to save Hiro? What if Hiro wasn't bot fighting for fun? How far will he push himself to do what he thinks is right?

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 _I'm Not Giving Up on You_

"Teach him a lesson."

"Hey fellas, let's talk about this." Hiro said nervously backing up into the alley wall.

Pain….

That was all Hiro knew in that moment. One of Yama's goons punched him in the side of the head knocking him to the ground. The flurry of punches and kicks were too fast and painful to track. Hiro heard a crack and then…nothing.

When Hiro woke up he was in an alley way. It was pitch black, still night, and he could hear the sounds of bot fighting and cheers in the distance. Yama's thugs must have moved him a block away so nobody would notice his unconscious body. Just lifting his head off of the ground hurt and sent the world spinning. He began to assess the damage. Fingers...all ten there, toes….moveable, good sign. Arms and legs…incredibly sore, but felt ok. He began to sit up.

"Agh!" On his left side his rib cage was on fire.  
"Must have been the crack I heard." He said to himself. When bored, sometimes Hiro would research into biology and medical practice, anything that could potentially help him with his latest project of building cool, human like bots. He knew there was nothing that could be done for a broken rib. He'd just have to get home and wrap it without Aunt Cass or Tadashi seeing.

"Shit, what time is it!?" He reached for his cell phone, careful not to move too fast. It was already 2am and he had a missed call from Aunt Cass. Nothing from Tadashi though, which meant he must still be at nerd school. Probably on his way home now so if Hiro was going to pull this off he had to be quick. He got to his feet, ignoring the pain, and began jogging home.

Every step was like a knife stabbing his side. Even the way the fabric of his shirt brushed against his side sent pain cascading over him in waves. All he wanted to do was sit down and call Tadashi for help, but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't let them know how dangerous bot fighting had become as of late and they needed the money. Tadashi and Aunt Cass had never given up on him and now he needed to do everything he could to keep them afloat.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head he concentrated on jogging home.

From behind him he could see lights just as he rounded the corner to the café/home. It was Tadashi on his bike.

"Shit!" Quickly Hiro ducked into the tiny space between the café and the next building. Tadashi still had to go around back to park so he had a few minutes. He quickly forced up the garage door, hiding his pain with a barely audible grunt, and quietly lowered it down. Adrenaline was pumping through his body now. He needed to get into the bathroom before Tadashi got in so he could clean himself up. Grabbing the extra pair of pjs he kept in the garage for this specific situation, he crept up the stairs to the bathroom. Surprisingly, Aunt Cass was still awake. Probably waiting for him, she seemed engrossed in the movie she was watching so he crawled hands and knees across the floor and up to the second set of stairs clamping his mouth shut so he wouldn't get a groan through. If he got caught now there would be no way to hide the truth from Aunt Cass or Tadashi. He could hear Tadashi entering downstairs just as he reached the top and used the noise he was making to cover up the sound of the bathroom door closing.

"Made it" he sighed. Breathing heavily to calm his erratic heartbeat he began undressing. Bruises littered his body ranging from the size of a quarter to one on his left arm that looked like someone's fist, knuckle indentations and everything. By far the biggest was on his ribcage. The bruise spanned all down his left side. It was angry and swollen, but there were no breaks in the skin which was good. Carefully Hiro ran his fingers along his ribs. When he got down to the 11th and 12th he felt a sharp pain. Despite the pain he kept going and was able to run his fingers across them without feeling any sharp protrusions.

"Must just be a cracked." Hiro could hear Tadashi and Aunt Cass still talking, he had a bit more time. He pulled out the bottom left hand drawer under the sink where he kept some medical supplies. He was grateful now more than ever that he secretly cut the drawer in half shrinking its depth so he could stash things behind it. Pulling out some ace bandages he began to wrap his ribs biting his lip to keep from screaming. He knew it had to be tight if it were to heal right. If they had the money he might have sprung for a heating pad or ice packs, but this would have to do.

"The money!" Hiro checked his pockets, all gone. The money he won from Yama and the money he paid to enter into the rounds was gone! He then remembered his socks. A habit he picked up when fighting was to hide money away where it couldn't be pick pocketed easily. He had stuffed his earnings in his right sock as he reached down to grab Megabot.

"Only $173, not enough, at least they took mostly fake stuff." Not wanting to risk getting robbed and losing his earnings, Hiro printed very convincing fakes which he carried in his pockets. He hated doing it and never used fake money to buy anything, but with his small stature he was an easy target for guys trying to make a quick buck. . He couldn't count the number of fake bills he lost to hustlers in the alley. He would usually switch all his earnings to his socks between rounds and was careful to keep it separate from the fake money he carried openly in his pockets. Tonight he was only able to transfer some of the winnings before he was attacked.

He could hear Tadashi coming up the stairs now. He quickly put his pjs on and stuffed his clothes behind the drawer tucking the money in his clean pair of socks. He checked his face in the mirror finally noticing a cut above his right eyebrow.

"Shit!" There was no time to hide that now. He washed the blood off his face and decided to make something up about getting hurt while working on a bot. Aunt Cass and Tadashi knew he had been working late hours in the garage lately. Grabbing a Dixie cup with water, he made his best half asleep face and dragged himself out of the bathroom… right into Tadashi.

It took everything in his power not to cry out when they collided. His ribs throbbing as he fell back into the wall. Holding in his tears he jokingly croaked out "well now I am awake."

"Hiro! Are you ok!? Where have you been!? And why are you wearing your pjs? Aunt Cass said she couldn't find you anywhere!" Tadashi was frantic.

"Woah, hey calm down, I've been in bed, just went to grab a glass of water." Hiro tried to play off as calmly as possible.

"But Aunt Cass said she called your cell and that she checked the garage." Tadashi said confusedly.

Putting on his most convincing sleepy face Hiro replied "Well maybe she missed me between the garage and bed. I haven't checked my cell in a while. Look Tadashi I am tired can I get back to bed now?"

"Yeah bud sure, I'll tell Aunt Cass you're asleep. Next time try to tell her good night before you worry her." Tadashi looked like he wasn't completely convinced and Hiro could see him eyeing the cut on his eyebrow. Thankfully Tadashi didn't push the subject.

Hiro replied with a traditional "Uh huh absolutely" and went off to bed.

Thankfully Tadashi did not come into the room with him because Hiro wouldn't have been able to explain how his bed was still perfectly made. Next time he snuck out he would have to mess his bed up for appearances. Hiro took a sip of water and heavily fell into bed. He was exhausted from the days' events and his injuries, but the thought of not making enough money weighed heavily on his mind. Eventually he fell into a restless sleep.

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Why is Hiro so obsessed with making money? Stay tuned to find out. If you like what you read above let me know. Encouragement is the best way to spur me into writing more. Fair warning that I work over 70 hours a week so updates will be slow. Thanks for reading!


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